RAX15 occasionally losing internet when USB device connected
(The model is RAX15: https://www.netgear.com/support/product/rax15.aspx; I'm not sure why it isn't showing up in the "Model" list above. Also, I am running firmware version V1.0.1.58_2.0.31, which is the latest at the time of writing)
Less than a week ago, I installed my new RAX15 router. I connected my 1TB WD "MyPassport Ultra" USB hard drive to it to use as a network drive. When the router is working, I am able to access the drive's contents without any issues. However, within 24 hours, the router had stopped working three times (described in more detail below). To try to pin down the problem, I disconnected the drive, and for the next couple of days there were no problems. Then, I reconnected the drive today and within a few hours the router had stopped working, so I'm relatively confident that the problem has something to do with the connection to the hard drive. The timing of these incidents doesn't seem to line up with any specific actions/situations as far as I can tell (like reading/writing to the drive, high network usage, etc.), they just seem random.
Symptoms:
The internet goes out entirely, for both wired and wireless connections
On my MacBook (using a wired connection via an ethernet->USB-C dongle), this shows as "USB 10/100/1000 has a self-assigned IP address and will not be able to connect to the Internet."
On my Android phone (connected via WiFi), I see "Connected but no internet" in the phones wireless settings. If I toggle WiFi off and back on on my phone, it eventually says "Couldn't Authenticate Connection".
While this is happening, I am unable to access the router's settings, either via "routerlogin.net" or via the Nighthawk app on my phone.
While this is happening, the lights on the router are the same as when everything's working fine: the Power, WPS, Internet, Wifi, and USB lights are all lit.
Turning the router off and back on has fixed the issue each time it's come up so far.
Next, I'm going to try connecting a thumb drive instead of the hard drive, to check if the issue only happens for that hard drive. I'll update this post with my findings.
Hope I can get some help with this, since it's disappointing that the router isn't working as it should be.
Re: RAX15 occasionally losing internet when USB device connected
Update: After about 2 days with the thumb drive connected to the router, I have had no issues. Maybe the router can't push enough power via the USB port to consistently power the drive? In any case, I think I'm going to settle for just leaving the drive disconnected, unless someone here suggests something that might help.
